ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A few days ago, Aaron Nola took stock of starting pitching that has carried the Phillies back into wild-card contention over the last month.
“I’ve got to pick it up a little more and be a little more consistent,” he said. “But those [other] guys have been great.”
What better time, then, for Nola to produce a gem? Fourth of July. Against the American League’s highest-powered offense. While sharing the mound with his close friend and former teammate.
And Nola delivered, scattering five hits, racking up 12 strikeouts, overcoming defensive lapses, and outdueling Zach Eflin for seven innings in a 3-1 victory under the dome at Tropicana Field.
Nola trudged off the mound in the eighth inning after giving up a one-out homer to Wander Franco. Otherwise, he was brilliant. Rather than letting potential rallies mushroom, his downfall for much of the season, he stranded runners in the second, third, fourth, and sixth innings, never losing control over the game.
Eflin mostly matched him. But he gave up one run on back-to-back two-out doubles by Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm in the second inning and another on a Bryce Harper double and Stott’s RBI single in the seventh.
Ultimately, though, the first duel between the close friends must have lived up to even their own expectations.
Nola and Eflin met in 2015 at double-A Reading. They came up together through the Phillies’ farm system. Nola watched Eflin deal with multiple knee injuries that nearly derailed him. Eflin watched Nola blossom into a top-of-the-rotation starter.
It was fitting that when the Phillies clinched their first playoff spot since 2011 last October, Nola started the game and Eflin saved it.
Eflin said he looked forward to this for weeks. He peeked at the schedule and counted the days to see if he would face the Phillies. Two weeks ago, he realized he may have the opportunity to square off against Nola.
Last Thursday, Eflin texted Nola to confirm.
“Are you going on the 4th?” Eflin wrote.
“Yeah,” Nola repled.
Said Eflin: “Let’s go!”
Eflin has a different look from his years with the Phillies. The Rays have him throwing more curveballs and cutters, fewer four-seam fastballs and change-ups.
“We preach unpredictability here,” Eflin said over the weekend. “I think that’s a huge part of what we’ve got going on.”
But Eflin’s sinker remains his signature, and Stott beat him on his best pitch.
In the second inning, Stott took a first-pitch curveball for a strike, then cued a sinker down the left-field line for a two-out double. In the seventh, he fouled off consecutive fastballs before punching a sinker through the right side for an RBI single.
But the day belonged to Nola. His curveball, a bellwether pitch in many of his starts, was as crisp as it’s been all season. He struck out four of the first five Rays batters and matched his season-high with a dozen strikeouts overall.
Harper just misses
Bryce Harper’s career-long homerless streak continued, albeit by a matter of inches.
With two out in the eighth inning, Harper launched a ball 382 feet to the base of the right field wall and out of Josh Lowe’s reach. But it stayed in the park, and with Harper not running hard out of the box, he settled for a long RBI single.
Harper hasn’t gone deep in 32 games and 143 plate appearances since May 25 in Atlanta.
Marsh takes charge
After regretting that he wasn’t more assertive on a fly ball that fell between him and Kyle Schwarber in Sunday’s loss to the Nationals, center fielder Brandon Marsh took charge in the fifth inning.
Christian Bethancourt led off with a drive to the gap in left-center. But as Marsh and Schwarber converged, Marsh called for the ball, slid feet-first, and made the catch as Schwarber peeled off.
